Boston Power Pop (Never Reissued and Never Will)

 THE ATLANTICS - BIG CITY ROCK (1979)

 

The Atlantics were formed in January 1976 by guitarist Tom Hauck and bass player Bruce Wilkinson, two students at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, just outside Boston. The single “One Last Night” by Bruce Wilkinson received regional and international airplay, and the album garnered a glowing review in Rolling Stone. The original analog tapes of many of the Atlantics most popular songs were then put into storage. In 2006 these tapes were recovered and thirteen tracks were digitally restored for the ATLANTICS album. In 2006, Rayboy Fernandes (Atlantics drummer) posted a comment on the Little Hits blog : "We've been in touch with Universal Music who owns the rights to the master recordings so we could remix and remaster the record correctly because we felt we actually played pretty well. But to no avail. The money it would cost to do this would be impossible to attain"

 

WU (231 mb)

The Vinyl Edition (Not The CD Reissue)

 THE CRETONES - THIN RED LINE (1980)

 

A sadly overlooked skinny-tie power-pop album, "Thin Red Line", was the debut release from The Cretones and was originally released in 1980,Three Mark Goldenberg songs from Thin Red Line were recorded by Linda Ronstadt for her "Mad Love" album, including the title track. The CD reissue (2016) includes three previously unreleased bonus tracks.

 

WU (248 mb)

An Old Forgotten 7" (Never Reissued)

FAMOUS STRANGERS - HARD TIME TO LEAVE YOU (1981)

 

All i can say about this lost and forgotten 7" is that the side A is more than glam-ish, and that the band members were Stephen Gideon Eisner (songwriter, lead guitar & vocals), Bob Proulx (bass & vocals), Brian Hallisey (songwriter, keyboards & vocals) and Jay Rubero (drums). Anyway this is quite enjoyable power pop.

 

WU (52 mb)

The Final Album Before The Split (Never Reissued)

EARTH QUAKE - TWO YEARS IN A PADDED CELL (1979)

 

"Two Years In A Padded Cell" was the fourth and final Earth Quake album released on Beserkley. A "Best Of" (Sittin in the Middle of Madness) of the Beserkley years was released in 2000. But no song from "Two Years In A Padded Cell" was picked. The album might be better than we could have thought over the years, Earth Quake was leaning towards Power Pop, but sadly they split afterwards. There are good songs on this album, and this final release has a great power pop artwork, take a look at the back sleeve, the Rubinoos spirit is not far.

 

WU (240 mb)

File Under Non-Stop Power Pop (Expanded Reissue Japan 2005)

PEZBAND - PEZBAND (1977)

 

Ranked #52 in the first edition of the Power Pop Guide, the album climbs to #47 in the 2018 edition, the album stands up as a classic power pop gem. Of course it flopped and as Mick Rain (drummer) said: "We should have called that record "Too Pop, Too Punk" because that's what the consensus was from  the geniuses running American radio at the time".

 

WU (373 mb)

 

and for the fun of it, here's an unashamed ad for the second Pezband album

Back To The 60's (Never Reissued)

THE CHOIR - ANYWAY I CAN EP (1976)

 

In 1976, Bomp! released a 5-song EP of unreleased songs by the band and in 1978, Bomp's first compilation LP, Best of Bomp Records, Volume 1 featured the Wally Bryson penned "I'd Rather You Leave Me". "The songs on this EP were written after "It's Cold Outside", supposedly for an album, altough they were never released before 1976 by Greg Shaw on BOMP!."Anyway I Can" was recorded in 1969, at the same session that produced the last Choir single "Gonna Have A Good Time Tonight". This was the last recording session before Bryson, Bonfanti and Smally joined Eric Carmen.

The versions featured here are different from the ones that can be found on the 1994 anthology "Choir Practice" or even "Artifact: The Unreleased Album" (2018)

 

WU (87 mb)

The 10" EP (Never Reissued)

BABY LEMONADE - THE WONDERFUL EP (1994)

 

The 10" six-song “Wonderful” EP, (built around a medley cover of two Brian Wilson songs from "Smiley Smile" - "Wind Chimes/Wonderful") it was released on the Sympathy for the Record Industry label. Baby Lemonade (Rusty Squeezebox, Mike Randle, Dave Chapple and David "Daddy-O" Green) remained with Sympathy, for whom they recorded "68% Pure Imagination".

 

WU (112 mb)

The First Single (Never Reissued)

BABY LEMONADE - LOCAL DRAGS (1994)

 

The very first release from Baby Lemonade with a garage cover of an Elton John song on its B- side. It would take a full two years (during which the band played as Love behind the legendary Arthur Lee) before Baby Lemonade would resurface with their debut album "68% Pure Imagination"

WU (50 mb)

The Last Paisley Pop (Never Reissued)

THE LAST - PAINTING SMILES ON A DEAD MAN (1983)

 

"Painting Smiles on A Dead Man" album was only released in France on Lolita in 1983. In the wake of the "Summer of many fifth members" in '81, the band realized they'd better do something before they were forgotten entirely. So they began working on a demo tape in early Fall at Radio Tokyo studios (the "Red Demo" tape), only to have David Nolte quit after completing his bass track. The other members completed the demo and recorded a few other songs. A year or two later, a French label called "Lolita" expressed interest in releasing a new Last album. So the band took the aforementioned material and gave it to them.

 

WU (262 mb)

More Paisley Pop (Never Reissued)

THE POINT - MAGIC CIRCLE (1983)

 

The Point's story begins in 1979 in the Northern California town of Livermore (home of the United States' largest Nuclear Weapons Labotary).
They quickly moved to Los Angeles - the place to be - so Mike Alford (drums), Tom Alford (guitars, vocals) and Jon Stebbins left home to find their fame and fortune in 1979. After the release of a self-produced 10" EP. They recorded a song with Vitus Matare "Pothead" for The Warfrat Tales compilation of L.A bands. Vitus Matare enjoyed working with The Point so much that he demanded the group record their debut album. Matare and The Point, once again entered the studio and they left with Magic Circle. One of the strongest records to emerge from the Paisley movement.

This is the french edition with a slightly revamped track order and it adds "Pothead" as a bonus track.

 

WU (229 mb)

Overlooked Paisley Pop (Never Reissued)

THE EYES OF MIND - TALES OF THE TURQUOISE UMBRELLA (1984)

 

Featuring Troy Howell, a former member of the Michael Quercio's Salvation Army, The Eyes Of Mind were part of Greg Shaw's LA psychedelic stable, Produced by Mart Wirtz (Tomorrow...) and Brett Guriwitz (Bad Religion). the Eyes of mind avoid slavish re-creation in favor of a subtler melodic evocation of the innocence and positivity of ’60s pop. The US edition was a 6 song mini album, expanded to 10 songs for this french edition never reissued.

 

WU (211 mb)

The Second Album (Never Reissued)

CHEEPSKATES - SECOND AND LAST (1986)

 

Led by the monstruously talented Shane Faubert, the Cheepskates began life as an anomaly to NY's garage rock scene in the mid 80's. They always were scouring for vintage paisleys and deeper, more intelligent accomodations of a derivative sound. They crafted pure pop, clear expressive, refreshing timeless pop treasures. They first released the classic "Run Better Run" in 1984 (reissued in 2005). Then, the original lineup split while recording the follow-up (hence the title "Second And Last"), an album never reissued.

After losing Keith and guitarist David John Herrera, the Cheepskates continued on as a trio of Shane Faubert, bassist Tony Low and new drummer Jeremy Lee. They released "Remember" (1987), "It Wings Above" (1988), "Waiting For Unta" (1989), and "Confessional" (1990) all available in CD format, though their two tribute (Perry Como and The Residents) EP's have never been reissued

 

WU (283 mb)

Scratch 'n' Sniff (Never Reissued)

VARIOUS - THE AKRON COMPILATION (1978)

 

Released in 1978, the artists on the Akron Compilation shared the same geographical location. Given the cloudy state of things in the area, it's hard to tell where one band and another begins (all tracks segue into one another). For instance, Chris Butler was a member of The Numbers Band, a snatch of whose music is heard during some radio static. Then he formed The Waitresses with three songs featured here. He's also with Tin Huey who contributed one cut. The other known bands involved are the Rubber City Rebels, The Bizarros. Rachel Sweet and Jane Aire & The Belvederes contribute with two cuts each, maybe the best stuff they will ever produce.

 

WU (275 mb)

Cleveland Rocks (Never Reissued)

CIRCUS - CIRCUS (1973)

 

Circus was a Cleveland area band (Cyrus Erie, Raspberries, Blue Ash, Left End, Infidels....) whose members were Mick Sabol, Phil Alexander, Craig Balzer, Tom Dobeck, Bruce Balzer, Frank Salle). In 1972, an ordinary bar band called Circus put out a rather un-ordinary pure pop single called "Stop Wait and Listen" wrtitten by the group's guitarist, Dan Hrdlicka. The band was only a stock bar band, spruced up and packaged to sell in the bars. But The single attracted collectors' attention. When the collectors actually took a look at the band, they found Hrdlicka replaced by a pair of adorable brother guitar players named Craig and Bruce Balzer. The band was even more slickly packaged and hyping itself 'til it frothed at the mouth. Perhaps the Balzers were over-reacting; they had just climbed out the jam-band stage when they left their previous band Ambleside, which specialized in Allman Brothers tunes. But their two singles and this one locally-released album still rates as excellent powerpop. Dan Hrdlicka left Circus to join Magic. Later Magic members (so Dan Hrdlicka) would become the backing band of Eric Carmen after Carmen left the Raspberries. The Balzer brothers later formed American Noise with Tommy Rich releasing one LP in 1980.

 

WU (199 mb)

The Obscure Follow up (Never Reissued)

THE CRETONES - SNAP! SNAP! (1981)

 

Hailing from Los Angeles, The Cretones released two LPs of power-pop-with-an-edge in the early 1980s. But they had little success with their first LP, “Thin Red Line,” (which was reissued in 2016 with 3 bonus tracks), and the now-obscure follow up, 1981’s “Snap Snap". Frontman Mark Goldenberg worked in the 90's with Jackson Browne and co-wrote with Mark Everett the Eels' smash hit "Novocaine For The Soul".

 

WU (247 mb)

Teeny Bop (Expanded Reissue Japan 2008)

BUSTER - BUSTER (1977)

 

In May 1976, Buster released their debut single "Sunday" in England. The band were marketed as the new ’teeny bop’ sensations and the record was an immediate success with their young fans although, as rock musicians, the boys felt uncomfortable with their ’teeny’ image. Sunday raced into the UK charts reaching No46. Radio 1, refused to play the single due to the fact that they were getting a little tired of "Teeny" bands and a new sound was on its way in...PUNK!

Ranked #197 in the first edition of The Ultimate Power Pop Guide (2008), the album was dropped out for the second edition (2019)

 

WU (353 mb)

A Jeff Eyrich Production (Never Reissued)

THE BROKEN HOMES - BROKEN HOMES (1986)

 

The first Broken Homes album was recorded in 1986 and produced by Jeff Eyrich, (of Plimsouls, T Bone Burnett, Blasters and Gun Club fame). The music on this album is somewhere between The Del Fuegos (this particuliar way to play heartland garage rock with the rootsy twang of Dixie-fried rockabilly and roots-conscious rock 'n' roll), Tom Petty ("Yes, it's all over now" takes a jangle rock page from Tom Petty's book with its singalong chorus taken from "American girl"), and The Plimsouls (Jeff Eyrich had produced "Everywhere at Once"). The first album was never reissued on cd, and this very first album was to remain their best work. Subsequent two albums were much less satisfying. The Jeff Eyrich musical direction did a lot for the quality of this eponymous album.

WU (244 mb)